Friday, June 08, 2007

Beer, Hammer, Bikes, Farm Animals and Gold Mines









A few days ago, I mentioned to Capt'n Balance that I needed a bottle opener in my bike shop and kept forgetting to get one. Capt'n Balance was all excited when I got home from work the other day. He told me to go look in my shop because there was a surprise waiting for me.

Surprised and excited, I went into the shop and there it was, waiting for me on one of my work benches....The BEER HAMMER!!! Wow, every shop needs one. I didn't know what I was missing. I went to my little shop fridge, grabbed a Kona Fire Rock and went to work with the HAMMER. It works great. My beer was open in a flash with no foam from my normal decapping procedure with a screwdriver. I took a drink, sank into my chair, let out a big sigh and silently thanked the HAMMER and Capt'n Balance for making that little part of my life easier.

The HAMMER can also be used lightly as a actual hammer. Can't beat that...get it???

I am restoring another Schwinn Varsity for another friend. He is paying for all the parts and gave me a Novara road bike for my labor. Sweet deal. It's a 80's Novara but it's in new condition and just needs new tires and tubes. Bike Boy will like it.

Capt'n Balance also came home with a nice road bike that someone was throwing away. All the stickers have come off but it has a Norco seat. He wants to fix it up for himself and he might start riding it to work. He also wants to strip it and paint it. The freewheel is seized and it has sewn tires. Bike Guy can replace the tires and mount them but I don't' really want to mess with them so he gave me a good deal on some inexpensive wheels and freewheel. I will move the down tube friction shifter to the stem also.

So my boys will be riding the roads a bit. I think dirt is embedded in them and that will remain their main preference for riding but now they will have more options.

We have 5 Merino lambs on the farm now...sound familiar? The wonderful, high quality, non-itchy, non-smelly wool sports wear is made out of. They were sheared before they arrive, they are sporting pretty bad haircuts and are a little embarrassed.

We also have a new calf, born just yesterday. It was about 4 hours old in these pictures and after I took these pictures it started to jump and buck, as much as a 4 hour old calf can, which isn't much, but it's a good sign it healthy and strong.

Capt'n Balance and I went on the 1st mountain biking ride of the summer up at Hatcher's Pass. We road up to Snowbird Mine, had to hike-a-bike over the 1/4 mile rock garden. It's still winter up there, ice on the water. Marmots (ground squirrel) were screaming at us, we were getting too close to their nest in the ruins of the mine. I backed off rather than get my throat ripped out by a 15 pound squirrel.

The winds are back and stirring up so much glacier silt it's obscuring the view, can't even see the mountains to the north. Yuck.

10 comments:

The Donut Guy said...

Beer hammer....who woulda thunk it?:-)

Karen Travels said...

Wow your place sounds wonderfull, beer opener hammer and ALL! I may be inviting myself to visit in a year or 2 or 3!!

Chris said...

How did you survive so long without an opener? Did you use the edge of the counter like in the movies?

So what do you do with all of those animals?

Anonymous said...

WOOT!
Bike needs a rider :-)
Brrrrr - ice - yuck!
Moo.
Rock gardening, yay!
How much wood coulda woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Baa-aaa.
Sing it with me!
"If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land
I'd hammer out danger
I'd hammer out a warning
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land"

Dano said...

Nice!

SD_pedalpower said...

The pictures are very cool. Hey, I'm jealous..you have all the other local boy's link on your site but not mine ;(

amidnightrider said...

Very nice pictures and a good trade for the Navaro. Sometimes that type of good deed pays off in spades.

That little critter in one of you pictures is going to get blood poisoning if he steps on one of those nails.

Michelle said...

I never woulda thunk the Hammer

Karen, my door is open to you anytime...I do live in a barn though so be prepared. the animals sleep outside ;)

Where there is a will, there is a way. I survived by using pliers to open my beer. I stopped using my teeth, that's a little too red-neck for me now that I'm all grown up (joking).

We EAT the animals...sometimes, cows anyway.

Fat tires and beer - you said it all!

SD - I didn't know about you! Don't be jealous, I have enough blog luv to go around, adding you won't be a problem :)

Yep, the Navara is a good trade. I think those critters EAT those nails, they are pretty tough.

Karen Travels said...

I saw your comment on my page...I know, I know.....but first there is grad school, then my big trip, then more grad school to pay for...

Maybe I should just stop making excuses and just buy a damn bike!!

LOL!!!

Michelle said...

HA! Well, in the big picture, grad school is pretty important. My school days are over - whew. You got your priorities in the right place. Have fun on your trip!!! It sounds great!